The eighth key sector plan has been approved, outlining the roadmap for intellectual property development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Innovation is the primary driving force for development, and protecting intellectual property is synonymous with protecting innovation. In recent years, China's intellectual property sector has achieved significant progress, providing robust support for stimulating societal innovation and fostering new quality productive forces. How will intellectual property protection and utilization advance during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period? On July 20th, the executive meeting of the State Council reviewed and approved the "15th Five-Year Plan for Intellectual Property Protection and Utilization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). Through systematic top-level design, the Plan establishes a clear path and institutional safeguards for the high-quality development of intellectual property over the next five years.

This marks the eighth key sector "15th Five-Year Plan" approved by the State Council executive meeting this year, underscoring its importance. "Currently, China's innovation is increasingly entering 'uncharted territory' and 'areas occupied by others,' entering a new stage where following, running alongside, and leading coexist. This necessitates continuously improving the level of intellectual property protection and utilization to better stimulate innovation across society," a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference commented on this work in March. With the approval of the Plan, China's intellectual property sector now has a new five-year "blueprint" and "action plan."

In fact, China's intellectual property sector has seen substantial development in recent years. In April of this year, the National Intellectual Property Administration announced at a State Council Information Office press conference that intellectual property work had achieved new, significant progress during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period and in 2025. In 2025, China became the first country in the world with over 5 million valid invention patents and had strategically deployed a number of key core technology patents in future industries such as quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G communications. Among the world's top 5,000 brands, the total value of Chinese brands reached $1.81 trillion, ranking second globally. China's ranking in the "2025 Global Innovation Index Report" rose to 10th place, entering the global top ten for the first time. The number of global top 100 innovation clusters in China reached 24, with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranking first globally for the first time.

These achievements provide strong support for stimulating societal innovation and cultivating new quality productive forces. However, based on the current foundation and stage-specific characteristics of intellectual property development, the recent State Council executive meeting explicitly stated the need to address institutional gaps promptly, accelerate the enactment, revision, repeal, and interpretation of relevant laws and regulations, improve supporting policy measures, and continuously optimize the intellectual property protection environment that supports comprehensive innovation. It emphasized strengthening the high-quality supply of intellectual property, deepening reforms in rights and benefits distribution, enhancing policy support and market services, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of transformation and application. Furthermore, it called for establishing a full-chain talent cultivation system, accelerating the development of a high-level, interdisciplinary, and application-oriented talent pool to comprehensively elevate the management and service level of intellectual property.

These are the focal points for intellectual property development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. As indicated by the name of the Plan, protection and utilization define the core of intellectual property work. Regarding utilization, at another State Council Information Office press conference four months ago, the implementation of the Special Action for Patent Transformation and Application (2023-2025) was discussed. Patents are a key category of intellectual property. Published data shows significant results: nationwide patent assignment and licensing filings reached 1.458 million, a year-on-year increase of 48%, with universities and research institutions seeing a growth of 105.6%. In 2025, the transaction value of technology contracts involving patents nationwide reached 1.18 trillion yuan, an increase of 18.8% year-on-year.

However, another statistic highlights the rationale behind the State Council executive meeting's call to "improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transformation and application." Data shows that by the end of 2025, the industrialization rates for invention patents at universities and research institutions were 10.1% and 17.2%, respectively. While this represents a clear improvement, the figures also indicate that the majority of patents remain "dormant." It was noted at that press conference that a responsible official from the National Intellectual Property Administration candidly acknowledged the difficulties and bottlenecks in patent transformation and application, summarizing them as the "five nos": "cannot transfer," "unwilling to transfer," "dare not transfer," as well as "do not know how to transfer" and "inconvenient to transfer."

For this special action, the National Intellectual Property Administration, in collaboration with relevant departments, is making concerted and targeted efforts, primarily focused on resolving the "five nos." Regarding next steps, the aforementioned official stated that, building on the existing achievements of this special action, they will continue to deepen institutional and mechanism reforms, optimize the ecosystem for transformation and application, further break through these key difficulties and bottlenecks, and enhance the efficiency and benefits of patent conversion. It has been observed that multiple press conferences related to intellectual property have been held at the State Council Information Office this year. In response to the requirements of the recent State Council executive meeting, the National Intellectual Property Administration has already made relevant work arrangements.

For instance, regarding improving legal safeguards, they will accelerate the comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law and amendments to the Regulations on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits. They will strengthen research and evaluation for specialized legislation on geographical indications. They will improve the intellectual property protection system for new fields and formats such as artificial intelligence. They will continuously refine data intellectual property protection rules and further deepen related pilot programs. Concerning efficient utilization, they will establish a long-term mechanism for intellectual property transformation and application, continue to deepen the inventory and activation of existing patents in universities and research institutions, construct high-standard patent pools in key fields, vigorously implement trademark brand strategies and geographical indication application promotion projects, and support key regions in deepening comprehensive pilots for intellectual property finance ecosystems.

Understanding the strategic significance of intellectual property work, Xiongan New Area serves as an intuitive case study. In late June, a visit was made to the Xiongan Science and Technology Innovation Center with a media tour group. The Xiongan Intellectual Property Protection Center (hereinafter referred to as the Protection Center) is located here, constituting one of the three major centers within the innovation hub. In 2018, the "Xiongan New Area Plan Outline" was released; in 2019, the "1+N" planning system for Xiongan New Area was basically established, forming its core framework. In April 2022, the Protection Center was approved for establishment.

When discussing the background for establishing the Protection Center, a responsible official explained that it is a clear requirement for the high-standard, high-quality construction of Xiongan New Area and an inevitable need for advancing the relocation of Beijing's non-capital functions and implementing the innovation-driven development strategy. Logically, through intellectual property protection, industrial introduction can be effectively linked with enterprise innovation, R&D, manufacturing, and marketing. This can both guide the development of high-end and high-tech industries in Xiongan New Area and safeguard the innovation needs of newly introduced industries. Simultaneously, serving the six categories of relocated units to "settle in" and "move up" also requires strengthening the top-level design of intellectual property protection work in Xiongan New Area, improving the level of intellectual property protection, and refining the intellectual property protection system.

By building platforms, introducing resources, and optimizing services, the Protection Center has established a pathway from technological innovation to intellectual property protection, promoting better integration of the innovation chain and industrial chain, and effectively serving the new area's high-quality construction, high-level management, and high-quality relocation and development. Looking at Xiongan today, six major industrial and enterprise clusters—focusing on aerospace information and satellite internet, artificial intelligence, new materials, digital technology, fintech, and green energy—are rapidly taking shape. A vibrant city driven by innovation is accelerating its rise.

It has been learned that Xiongan New Area has already formed a high-level coordinated "comprehensive protection" work structure, achieved seamless service integration for the relocation, and created a nationally influential brand for achievement transformation. More promisingly, on June 22nd, the National Intellectual Property Administration officially approved the establishment of a national-level intellectual property protection center in Xiongan New Area. In the future, patent pre-examination for key industries in Xiongan New Area, such as next-generation information technology and new materials, will achieve "immediate handling upon arrival," allowing enterprises to truly experience the "Xiongan Speed."

Regarding intellectual property protection and utilization, Xiongan New Area has further plans. These actions include a "high-value creation" initiative, focusing on the new area's key industries to provide "one-on-one" guidance on high-value patent mining and layout for relocated units and key enterprises. There is also a "smooth achievement transformation" project, deepening intellectual property financial innovation, expanding the "white list" for pledge financing, actively exploring frontier models such as data intellectual property pledge and securitization, and opening channels to transform "intellectual property" into "assets." The practices in this future city demonstrate that only by writing intellectual property work into the prologue of urban construction can innovation-driven development have its most solid foundation.